5 charts that explain crypto right now

Numbers, news, trends: The 5 crypto metrics we’re watching

Daren Matsuoka and Robert Hackett

From mobile wallet usage and onchain transaction fees to volume across stablecoins, decentralized exchanges (or DEXs), and exchange traded-products (ETPs) — these are the charts our team is looking at most closely to track the market.

We also cover the latest numbers, news, and trends with our resident data weatherman (and author of our flagship State of Crypto reports), Daren Matsuoka, on the latest episode of the web3 with a16z podcast.

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Where decentralized infrastructure (DePIN) is making inroads: 6 promising use cases

Guy Wuollet

DePIN protocols offer a new model for building and operating real-world systems. At this point the term “DePIN” might feel conflated with decentralized energy, but there are many other industry applications.

The throughline connecting them is a path to sunsetting the monopolistic, opaque, and outmoded infrastructure systems we rely on today — and reimagining them as open, permissionless networks that are owned and operated by users. DePIN can lower barriers to entry, incentivize innovation, and distribute ownership and economic rewards across almost any category that relies on massive systems of physical infrastructure.

But how is DePIN actually playing out across real-world use cases? What progress have builders made so far? And what’s left to explore? Here are six categories — energy, telecom, transportation, AI, robotics, and healthcare — where DePIN is already making inroads, and where we may be headed next.

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And more DePIN insights…

Members of the a16z crypto research lab published a new paper showing for the first time that those trying to verify DePIN protocols face two — and only two — fundamental challenges: manipulation and self-dealing. They also offer suggestions for how to overcome them.

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Answering FAQs on the end of the foundation era

Miles Jennings

Calling for an end to crypto’s offshoring in our recent article “The end of the foundation era in crypto” sparked some debate. In this post, a16z crypto Head of Policy Miles Jennings address five of the most commonly asked questions, including…

What about tax?

“Offshore foundations can offer tax benefits, but there’s more risk here than many people think (and more than advisors are willing to admit). Most founders we talk to would, in retrospect, gladly give up the tax efficiencies